Arsenal have their main attacker and everybody can breath again. We needed extra fire power up front and with Lacazette Wenger has landed a fine attacking specimen. Not cheap but at 26 we can have 4-7 years of fire power from the prolific Frenchman. Of course the prospect of Alexis, Lacazette and Ozil up-front in our 3-4-3 line up is mouth wateringly good, but with Alexis apparently asking for silly money to force a departure, Wenger will now be a lot more relaxed in letting him go. On his terms, though!

Although Alexis scores a lot of goals, he was not in the PL top-five of scorers of most points-winning goals. And this my friends is actually the most important aspect to judge an attacker on: scoring the vital goals that get us wins or turn losses into draws. Costa – however despicable he is – was excellent at this last season, Alexis was not.

Wenger can now look for a replacement for Alexis and do two deals simultaneously: say goodbye to Alexis and bring in his replacement straight after that. Mahrez would be a really good replacement for Alexis and he can also double up for Ozil in the hole. Mahrez – Lacazette – Ozil up-front would be feast of football. Ramsey and Xhaka (Santi-Elneny) would love to feed these passing magicians. Welbeck, Iwobi, Giroud and Perez would be great back up for our attackers.

The early signing of Lacazette has put Wenger in a fabulous position to deal effectively with Alexis without losing too much sleep over it. He holds all the cards and Alexis can grow himself a new one. If he is committed to our fine club he will sign soon; if he is not, he will probably sit out his contract, or maybe he will be sold after all. Whatever happens we will be fine and can now look forward to start of the friendlies-season.

20 Responses to Lacazette is a Gunner now Sanchez can do a Runner | Hello Mahrez

If the reports are true, Alexis is acting like a typical 28/29 year old footballer looking for a final big pay day; and that’s not an attitude we need around the club. With Lacazette in and the possibility of Mahrez coming in, it may not be a direct replacement (like for like? Nah!), but it gives hope that we can do one more deal and be good to go.

Lemar is less wasteful with his passes while Mahrez has guile that Sanchez doesn’t. We will miss Sanchez’ tenacity and drive, though. The ideal situation will be that we are able to keep both Alexis and Ozil, in addition to the newbies, to forge a strong unit and phase out Alexis as Lacazette settles in. That way Alo! Alo! can be LMAO, with Mahrez joining up.

One can only hope Lacazette is successful in his first season so we don’t look foolish after all the excitement.

just keep Alexis for his final year and let him go wherever he wants on a free next summer…we’ll get his world class goal-scoring prowess for another year for minimal cost – job’s a good’un

yes we invested £36m in him three years ago, but if he stays that works out at £9m a year plus wages, for one of the best players in the world during his peak – that’s money well spent and we’re big enough and rich enough not to NEED to recoup our financial investment

consider it a sunk cost – KEEP HIM

and if he joins City of Cheslea in a year who cares – he’ll be another year older, more defenders will have adapted to him

Just really adding to ^^^ gunner17, that would be best solution. Let the contract play out. I don’t believe the whole 400k rumour Let’s not forget that Sanchez isn’t a selfish guy by any stretch. Like any top player wants to play around winners or likeminded players. If however your with a team that should really be achieving more then one can only go on for so long. Look how many minutes that guy has put in for us. Some say slate him for sulking when he’s subbed, why???? Do you not want a guy that doesn’t want to leave the pitch and will go 100% for the team??? These are the players we have been missing!! Sanchez like to provide goals just as much as claiming ones for himself much like Ozil. Let’s not forget both of these guys were bought for midfield purpose not striker so sanchez will be happier feedin newbie zander goals. Once he has settled in and the goal burden is off of Sanchez I think it will be positive for the team and maybe he’ll stay,. Rant over

I second allezkev’s notion: “Is winning the EPL worth £50m or not?”
And respond: “Easily”.
In facets such as: Profit, prestige, chemistry, allure– the list goes on– and £50m could not come close to buying those tangibles/intangibles for any team.
When you are close– you have to risk anything– to win everything.

I agree also. let’s be honest having Sanchez in any team other than ours right now is a silly idea all together, but no one player can be a team there has to be an equal balance of quality across the squad. Otherwise it’ll be a repeat of past years with other overworked star men in our recent teams. We do really need some more polished articles in the squad, even if there bench warmers now and then that’s the way things are. Wenger overplays his best guys time and time again because the backups are never quite up to par.

Hi all..
I dont want to compare with City actually..
In last 3 season, City didnt got anything.. We win 2 FA cup.. So I think our team is much more better than Pep the bold team.. But i think Lacazette or lets call him Latte.. type of playing is more like Aquero.. A very different type of all our forward..
So he is offcourse a good addition to the team..

Mahrez seem closer to Emirated also.. Which I see it as a Goodbye sign for Sanchez.. For me Mahrez not Latte is tje guy to replace Sanchez..

Lets assume Sanchez gone.. Will Mahrez otomaticly playing his rule..?? I doubt it.. so I suggest we should play with 2 striker in front..
If we keep 3 CB.. that I think we will.. Then we can play a 3-5-2 formation..
It can change to 3-2-3-2 or 3-3-2-2.. Or even 3-4-1-2.. Very fleksible indeed.. Hehehe

Are you saying that Alexis is a flat track bully? I think you may be onto something there…

So, I definitely agree that getting Laca in early is a good thing… The wage demands for O and A seem absurd but Ozil has no where to go and Alexis’ people must be negotiating with the idea that you start by asking for double what you’ll take…

Gotta disagree with those who say let em play out their contracts… Arsenal don’t need that level of soap opera… Imo, of course…

Cheers for the post…. And maybe I can explain myself more when I’ve got a keyboard in front of me…

Messi has a buy out clause of £300M in his new contract. Every player has a price. Sell well/buy well. Simple. Keeping a player AT ALL COST is being not smart. And keeping Alexis against his wish could reenact the City/Carlos-Tevez saga. Maybe worse because while Tevez kept his sulk to himself, Sanchez would destroy the dressing room.

Is Sanchez such an indispensable player? How come Chls won the league so comfortably without him? They must have missed him, I suppose. Am getting sick of this Alexis stuff. We Arsenal fans seem to be priming ourselves for another round of all season moaning. At £400K per week only CR7 and Messi would be earning more than him. What is his shirt sale worth? How much does he earn the club in endorsements. He is not in that bracket at all, unless he is just telling the world he is heading to China. In which case we cash in.

These are not to say Sanchez is not a top player and who knows he might even willingly sign a new contract with us. Sanchez loves the dramatic.

No point discussing about Alexis; If he wants to stay, he will stay. If he wants to go, even Wenger cannot keep him.

Some blog starting with A is talking about Lacazette replacing Alexis, which I wrote about earlier on. We need to start thinking about the other players and how they suit this new 3-at-the-back system.

We have a few deadwood situation and maybe some players that we have to see and get rid of, so it is better to look at those. I prefer to focus on the DM area, as that is the position that switches play from defense to attack. If our attack is wonderful, but our DM area cannot do the job to get the ball upfield, it makes no sense at all.

£25m? Then, I am sure there will be a fair few clubs in Europe that will be willing to match that and pay him over £200k per week. Man city will lose out once we put the word out that we wish to flog him off to anyone. Such a sum may even be an incentive to keep him, in line with your theory about the value of the EPL.

JK.. Some news said that Cazorla is back to town.. Hehehe..
I feel happy enough with our current Midfielders.. Coq and Elneny are not a bad players.. And if Cazorla is back there will be more enough strenght there..
Remember we still have AMN and JRA there..
But someone like Carvalho, Nainggolan or Strootman is more than welcome.. Hehehe..

Agreed Ko Henry, but i still feel that we have more than what we needed.

Maybe the Ollie and Perez situation can be handled better. I want both of them to stay, so that the team still have a player that is tall and holds up the ball well can be relied upon in some tricky games.

Kev and Eris, no way we will ship Alexis out to Citeh. Alexis is our best player and he only wants his team to win.

So, we are better off with ALO and Ollie, Welbs and Lucas as cover, we have enough firepower.

Very exciting to see Lacazette join the Gunners! I think his effectiveness as the CF in the red and white will now come down to his ability to adapt to the rough and tumble of the Premier League and whether Wenger can configure Arsenal’s tactics in the 3-4-2-1 setup to play to Lacazette’s attacking strengths.

As for Alexis, in my opinion his departure would be a blow for the club. His Premier League goal scoring and assist record since he has been at the club has been:
– 2014/15: 16 goals and 8 assists
– 2015/16: 13 goals and 4 assists
– 2016/17: 24 goals and 10 assists

Compare that to the comparative record of reported Arsenal target Mahrez, which has been:
– 2014/15: 4 goals and 3 assists
– 2015/16: 17 goals and 11 assists
– 2016/17: 6 goals and 3 assists
and it’s pretty clear to see that Alexis’ departure would represent a significant loss of goal and assist for the Gunners and are number which Mahrez has simply not produced.

The fact is for Arsenal there are no realistic CAM transfer targets in Europe’s top leagues who have season of season produced the same number of goals and assists as Alexis.

I actually suspect Wenger realises this and in buying Lacazette is trying to find a player in an alternative attacking position that can produce at least the same goal scoring numbers as Alexis and then some so Arsenal can potentially accomodate a less offensively productive CAM alongside Ozil.

Interestingly over the past three Premier League seasons Arsenal’s three primary attackers, Giroud, Alexis and Ozil, have:
– scored a per season average of 14 goals (Giroud), 18 goals (Alexis) and 6 goals (Ozil) respectively; and
– provided assists at a per season average of 5 assists (Giroud), 7 assists (Alexis) and 11 assists (Ozil) respectively.

So if Lacazette can score 25 goals and provide 5 assists in the Premier League next season (which is what he has averaged over the past three seasons in Ligue 1) and Ozil continues to contribute an average of 6 goals and 11 assists, then Alexis’ replacement will need to score at least 8 goals and provide at least 8 assists in the Premier league in order for Arsenal’s average goal scoring and creative output amongst its front three to improve without the Chilean.

In terms of potential transfer targets who have over the past three seasons averaged at least 8 goals and 8 assists in their respective domestic campaigns, there are very few candidates. One of the few is Ajax’s Ziyech, who over the past three season has averaged 13 goals and 13 assists per season in the Eredivisie.

Atalanta’s Alejandro Gomez, who over the past three season has averaged 8 goals and 8 assists per season in Serie A, is another potential option.

While both of those players have proven themselves to be regular goal scorers and creators for their respective sides over a number of seasons, and either of their inclusion alongside Lacazette and Ozil should enable Arsenal to at least equal the combined and averaged offensive contribution of Giroud, Alexis and Ozil, the uncomfortable truth for Arsenal is that still is not likely to be enough offensive production for Arsenal to be title contenders.

Realistically I think Arsenal need each of their two CAMs to produce somewhere around the 15 goal and 15 assist mark in the Premier League as well as their CF to contribute approximately 25 goals and 10 assists for Arsenal be in the title hunt.

Based on Alexis’ haul of 24 goals and 10 assists last season, Lacazette’s 28 goals and 3 assists and Ozil’s 8 goals and 9 assist, Arsenal stand a far better chance of their attacking trio getting close to that goal target with Alexis as opposed to without him.

For that reason I’m hoping Arsenal keep the Chilean at the club next season, whether he signs a new contract or not.

Well argued comment, Waldo. Of course, I would like Alexis to stay for the reasons you have given us, even though I dislike his lack of respect and support for Giroud and believe that without him we will see better team spirit and cohesion. I reckon over the last two seasons it is 1-1 between Mahrez and Alexis and the former would have better service/quality around him than he has had at Leicester.

The most important thing to realise is that we are now strong in all areas and do not need to sign anybody anymore. And if Sanchez needs to be let go, Wenger can do it at his pace.